Okay, maybe not, although it is nice that the Mariners have already matched their win total over the A's from last season (two) in the first series of the year. The problem is that the second game of the season may mark the high-point when all is said and done. There are so many issues with this team that it's just uncanny. As I have mentioned before, there is absolutely no hope in rooting for this year's Mariner team. It's like rooting for a good Kate Hudson movie. Not gonna happen. I think at this point it would be pertinent to take a look at some of the individual parts that make up this season's version of futility to see how they fit into to the present and future.
The Studs:
Ichiro-This one's a given. The guy is going to show up, get his 200 hits, hit his .330, steal his 45 bases, win his Gold Glove, and not complain. He'll just get it done. It's nice that he shows up and plays like the all-star he is without making a fuss, but it might take someone like Ichiro, the face of the franchise, to go off on one of those patented superstar rampages about how the direction of the organization sucks. He won't do it because he is classy and loyal but he should. Bottom line, this guy is gone after the season. His contract is up, the Mariners won't be able to pay him what other teams are willing to because they have over $20 million a year wrapped up in Beltre and Sexson alone. The only way he is a Mariner next year is if he finds the loyalty sting impossible to ignore. I would think that the dollar signs coming from New York, Boston, etc. will be hard to ignore as well.
King Felix-His first start of the year was one for the ages. Before Opening Day, the best game I saw him pitch was last year against Tampa when he pitched a complete game shutout on something like 88 pitches. This 8-inning, zero run, two hit, 12 K, 12 groundball out performance was better because a) it was Opening Day b) it was against the maddeningly patient and dreaded Oakland A's and c) because he could literally do whatever he wanted as he toyed with the Oakland hitters. If the team can get a handful of those types of starts along with the lot of really solid starts, we may be looking at a 20 game winner. However, anyone who follows the Mariners knows that eventually all Mariner young arms break down for some reason and the once promising future that it held is gone faster than a Jarred Washburn hanger. He needs to stay healthy, confident, and focused and he'll be fine.
Raul Ibanez-I love Raul like I love running. Not as much as Tom Izzo of course, but in the same ballpark. Raul is the most reliable hitter on this team, maybe more so than Ichiro. The Mariners signed him to do a couple of things: hit 20-30 homers, drive in 80-100 runs, hit in the .280-.300 range, and play serviceable defense. He has done it without fail. Everybody else not in the Stud category is easy to ridicule for various reasons, but there is never anything bad to say about Raul. He does his job as reliably as Old Faithful. He's almost as reliable as irritated silence at a Carlos Mencia show. I respect Raul like you wouldn't believe.
To give you an idea of how hopeless this year is, those are the only solid, reliable guys on a roster mostly loaded with question marks. I could name every other name on the team as a question mark but for the sake of time and sanity, I'll only name a few.
Question Marks:
Adrian Beltre-I seriously can't get a read on this guy. He's harder to read than James Joyce. Harder to read than Phil Ivey. He totally sucks during his first season in Seattle. He totally sucks for the first-half of his second season in Seattle. Then he blows up in the second half of last year to finish with a respectable .268/25/89 line. He hit like fifty homers during Spring Training, leading optimistic Mariner-ites to believe that this could be the year he comes close to matching the numbers he put up in his contract year with True Blue (.334/48/121). I'm taking a wait-and-see approach. The one thing that you can count on is that he'll own in the field. His Glove is Golden. If he produces for a whole season like he did in the latter half of last season, the Mariners might just have something justifiable for their $12 million a year.
Everyone except the King in the pitching staff-Take a look at who the Mariners will trot out to the bump on the dreaded non-Felix days: Jarred Washburn, Miguel Batista, Horacio Ramirez, Jeff Weaver. Is there a greater epitome of a question mark than that line-up? I like Washburn but he is no #2 starter. It would be nice to put him at the back end of a rotation but Seattle simply doesn't have the horses for it. Miguel Batista is apparently very smart, writing poetry, studying Proust, and what not, but can he pitch? He has pretty much done it all in his career. He has started, relieved, and closed. It's cool and all to be jack-of-all trades but I hesitate to get fully behind that. Is it that he's good at a bunch of stuff or that nobody, including him, knows exactly what he is? His first start, in which he gave up eight runs in 4.2 innings, didn't do much to clarify this conundrum, but I'm willing to give him a chance because I study Proust as well. Don't even get me started on Horacio Ramirez. I'm sure he's a nice guy and all, and he did have moderate success when he wasn't chronically injured in Atlanta, but we gave up Rafeal Soriano AKA The Next Mariano for this guy, a #4 starter. Great job, Bavasi! Hope you know something nobody else in MLB knows. As far as Weaver goes, it seems like a harmless signing. We're only stuck with him for one year and he has shown signs of having great stuff, especially in the postseason with St. Louis. If he can finally pan out, Seattle might have something. Frankly, Weaver might be the second best pitcher on the staff if he lives up to his potential.
I could go on about other question marks, such as Sexson (who refuses not to strike out), Vidro (who refuses to get his fat-ass into shape), Lopez (who has mysteriously forgotten how to hit for power), and Jose Guillen (who might end up killing one of his teammates), but that would just get me tired and upset. I have a 20-mile run tomorrow so I can't afford either since I will be experiencing plenty of that. But you get the idea: too many ifs, buts, and maybes for this team to be a true contender. The way I see it, the best case in a perfect world for this team is a second place finish behind Oakland and that's if the LA Angels of Anaheim fall completely flat on their faces. The Mariners won't finish ahead of Oakland because they don't have the capacity to be anything other than Oakland's female dog at this point, and they just aren't as good as Texas or LA. The one consolation is that there are only four teams in the division, meaning the worst Seattle can do is come in fourth which in any other division isn't last. GREAT SUCCESS! (Jesus Christ I hated that movie! Sasha Baron Cohen's talent + 1 = 1). This being said, I love the Mariners, I love baseball, and I'm glad it's back. Onward!
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